Leicester university hunger strikers for Palestine reach two-week mark

Hunger strikers at Leicester university have reached the two-week mark in their protest in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Leicester university students: on hunger strike for Palestine

On Wednesday 15 January, five University of Leicester students went on hunger strike “over the university’s complicity [Israel’s] in genocide”. Leicester Action for Palestine said this followed “severe repression from the University, who had 11 people arrested in November for allegedly occupying the Attenborough tower”.

An open letter in solidarity with the hunger strikers and arrestees explains that students want the university to “cut ties with Barclays, arms companies and other companies targeted by BDS”.

After ten days of hunger striking, students would require hospitalisation as a result of their protest. For this reason, Leicester Action for Palestine revealed at the weekend, three of the original five students had stopped their strike at that point.

The group also described how the university has sent “lots of information about how dangerous a prolonged hunger strike can be”, but has nonetheless “chosen to delay our next negotiation meeting until the end of next the week”. This means “forcing the strikers to extend their strike unnecessarily”.

The students are “risking their health and education” in order to push the university to “sever ties with companies complicit in the slaughter of thousands across the Middle East”.

The university’s inaction so far, Leicester Action for Palestine asserted, suggests the institution doesn’t truly care about its students beyond a “facade of wellbeing slogans and posturing”.

If you want to support the students, you can share their story and their demands below. You can also sign their open letter in solidarity, and email the university registrar at [email protected].